Elden Ring’s New Patch Is Making Hardcore Fans Look Real Silly

thegamer.com:

The gamers have been out in full force since the release of Elden Ring. While I gave FromSoftware’s latest a masterful five stars in my review and labeled it as my favourite game in quite some time, I also understand that it absolutely is not for everybody.

It’s challenging, uncompromising, and builds upon many of the systems first established in Demon’s Souls over ten years ago. It is 100 percent one of those games, meaning that those who bounced off the likes of Dark Souls and Sekiro probably won’t gel with it. Despite this being obvious and many of my friends and colleagues bouncing off the game because of its impenetrable nature, hardcore fans love to defend every little problem as a grand signature of the game’s artistic vision.

Related: Elden Ring’s Crafting System Feels A Bit Pointless

Now sometimes this defence is valid. I believe that Elden Ring doesn’t hold your hand in terms of exploration, combat, or objective markers because it wants you to stake your claim on The Lands Between. It is a desperately hostile place, so holding your hand through it all would be both mechanically and thematically discordant. But there’s nothing wrong with facilitating that vision by improving upon the game with a more approachable interface and mechanics that aren’t obscured by weird menus and bad design decisions.

Today saw FromSoftware release Patch 1.3 for Elden Ring shortly after it was announced the game had sold a staggering 12 million copies. The audience is bigger than it could have ever predicted, and thus begins the process of fixing bugs, delivering nerfs, and making the game even better with subtle but meaningful improvements. This includes a few additions to the game’s map, which is otherwise very minimal in the